Joan Bunning is a seriously good Tarot teacher. Her very old Learn the Tarot course transmorphed into one of the best all around books for beginners I have ever encountered. Her later books only expanded her circle of knowledge. This year Bunning produced Upside Down Tarot: How Reversals Add Depth to Your Reading.
And it is wonderful.
In her usual lucid, eloquent, way, Bunning takes us through a different perspective on reversed cards: that their meanings do not become backwards, but the energy the card represents is instead weak or undeveloped.
Bam! Light bulb moment!
Bunning explains:
“Upright cards stand for energies that are strong and well developed. They have a clear, active presence…. Reverse cards stand for energies that are absent, weak or undeveloped…. They are not clear and obvious…. An energy does not become its opposite when reversed. A card’s essential nature stays the same no matter what its orientation. (Chapter 1, Reversals are Energy, p.4)”
This was such a perfect reframing. I haven't read a reversed card in decades, I was so frustrated with the traditional concept of those cards having the opposite energy. It just didn't make sense to me, too simplistic a box for the wealth of tarot to be encased within.
Bunning gives clear direction on learning the cards' energies and seven specific steps to take to evaluate a reversed card. AS with much of working with the tarot, strategies feel analytical at first, but quickly become how your intuition speaks most clearly.
Most of the book then looks at every card in a typical deck, with illustrations from the Rider-Waite. Both upright and reversed means are offered with keywords for the three energy phases.
Upside Down Tarot is a fantastic and highly recommended resource for readers of all levels of experience.
~review by Lisa McSherry
Author: Joan Bunning
Red Wheel Weiser, 2024
pp. 176, $16.95
